Afghan Women and Kids Fight Drug Addiction

(CBS)  Najiba's four kids Karima, Marjabin, Naqibullah and Hila range in age from 4 to 13. Like her, they are all opium addicts, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clarke from Afghanistan.

"I started taking opium more than a decade ago," Najiba says, "when my 7-year-old son was killed by a truck."

She started giving it to her children to keep them from shivering in the winter. They've all had treatment before, but poverty lead them back to drugs.

Najiba says opium, which she boils as a tea to suppress hunger pains, is cheaper than a meal and brings her family some happiness.

There are few treatment centers for women and children in Afghanistan, but family addiction is a growing problem because few get help and many relapse.

There are 1 million drug addicts in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations. But drug counselors say the true number is at least double, with women and children making up a quarter of all addicts. The stimga of drug abuse makes it a hidden problem.

"Even Afghans aren't aware of this problem, most people thought we were producers not consumption," said Mohammad Zafar, Deputy Minister of Counter-Narcotics.

When it comes to producing heroin, Afghanistan is unrivaled with over 90 percent of the world's supply, according to a recent United Nations study.

Dr. Toorpaikay Zazai runs the family treatment center where she treats more than a hundred children in west Kabul. She says children get addicted quicker and it's harder for them to quit.

"For every addicted mother, there are on average four addicted children," Zazai says. "If something isn't done today, the country will lose a generation to drugs."

Najiba's oldest child, 13-year-old Karima, is worried as well. She's recently started taking opium on her own.

"I'm concerned my family will be addicts all their lives," she says.

The family is planning to return to rehab. Karima hopes this time she'll beat the odds and become a normal teenage girl. But that will be difficult in a country which is the world's largest producer of opium poppies.

[carolhill814]

We cannot fix the world and that is a fact the United States has to understand.
If the government doesn't care about their own people there is nothing we can do NOTHING.
The United States already had problems with drugs we don't take care of no other country is coming here to help us and that is fact.

[SkirtLifter]

No problem with drugs now, we control Afghanistan! Seems you have no problem either.

[zonkzilla]

But where would the rich and famous in the US and around the world get their drugs if the Afghans stopped making them? Where would the big drug companies get opium for their painkillers cheap (a major ingredient) that the talk show hosts and movie stars love so much? Why do you think we are still in Afghanistan? $$$$$$$$$

[micheleisfree]

This government should burn in H#ll for allowing this.

[wyodutch]

Britain?s mission in Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the next head of the Army warns today in an exclusive interview with The Times.

General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: ?The Army?s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years.?

He emphasised that British troop involvement, currently 9,000-strong, should only be needed for the medium term, but insisted that there was ?absolutely no chance? of Nato pulling out. ?I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner ? development, governance, security sector reform ? for the next 30 to 40 years,? he said.

[demongirl60]

I have to agree with both what BacktoWhatsRight and John_Merrit said.... they have to ditch the dumb poppies and plant FOOD. And there has to be educational opportunities for EVERYONE, especially the women and girls. I heard an old African proverb that went "When you educate a boy, you educate an individual.... When you educate a GIRL, you educate a commmunity." and I think that is SO true, especially in this case. And the Afghani people have to tell the drug lords to KMA, that they are going to grow food for their families. And also it is going to take a huge cultural change to fix this situation.... the women are going to have to STAND UP to the men and tell them that they are no longer going to be treated like property. They are HUMAN BEINGS with FEELINGS.

Maybe change will come, but I don't see it happening in my lifetime....

[mljohns00]

The poppy crop in Afghanistan was almost non-existant under the Taliban rule. The U.S. has done this to Afghanistan.

[SkirtLifter]

The US likes dope!

[gohan31]

Because of situations like this around the world, problems without end, humanity NEEDS God!!

[ubrew12]

God is busy.

[cranialnerves]

Give me a minute and I'll whip one up for you.

[formrusmcsgt]

In the early 20th century a very large percentage of opium addicts here in the staes were women.

Men could drink in public, women could not.

So women gravitated towards opium.

[wdh3007]

One thing I noticed here is that the people mentioned in this article actually say they are addicted to a drug when most are in denial and cannot. However they must want to get help for themselves because no one can break their addictions for them.

[naj1953]

CBS needs to do more stories on our Poor and Middle Class who are having a hard time here....We can't afford to Save the world. We are broke... Better start trying to save our people..With Jobs to start with..... I feel for the kids here in USA going to bed hungry..I feel for the families who have worked all their lives for what? So Our tax dollars go to some overseas countries...to save them. Save the people here...